TURNTABLE IV  Part 27

In Turntable III, Fiddletown and Copperoplis engineering was featured as the tale of my “stick of wood on a bolt” turntable unfolded. With crude wood pulleys and elastic tape salvaged from ma's sewing box, a fussy and cranky drive system evolved by trial and error. The system has problems but depression era short lines like the Bodega Western "make do".

A friend with a fancy kit turntable (metal pan and real wheels on the pit rails) tried a belt drive connected to a hand wheel on the fascia. He says the slipping belt and jerky operation were not for his railroad. This fall he is learning how to make a worm and gear drive as part of an adult machine shop class.

You efficient types will use the reliable products from Atlas or Walthers if your budget is modest. Adding a turntable need not be a hassle. I found a lot of fun doing the job the short line way. However, the finicky drive system forced me to install a good control system for the drive motor.

All turntable drive motors that I know of are electrically similar. Both Atlas and Walthers use permanent magnet 12 volt motors to power their turntables. If perchance, you have an ancient or exotic turntable with a series field motor (see Figure A) it probably runs on 12 volts or less. Rewire either the field or the armature through a bridge rectifier as shown in Figure B. Then your series motor will reverse with a change of polarity just like the Atlas turntable or your newest locomotive. Today’s solid state rectifiers make the conversion job cheap and easy

 .

We are all in the same boat - rich, poor, lazy and ambitious - turntable drive motors need a convenient control for both speed and direction. My first thought was to provide a variable power supply and reversing switch for the turntable drive. STOP! Our locomotive throttles were designed to provide smooth and reliable control of little motors. The DCC crowd can assign a locomotive identity to the turntable drive and attach a locomotive unit to control the flow of current from the track buss. We common folk with block systems have our own easy “THINK SMALL” solution. If your railroad has fifteen blocks or the whole railroad is just one block your roundhouse tracks and turntable are probably wired like Figure C. Wiring for the turntable motor requires only a SPDT switch on the fascia somewhere near the roundhouse. See Figure D.

The simplistic approach to powering the gearmotor for my turntable proved to be a real advantage. When you bring an engine on to the turntable you flip the switch from "track" to "table". The throttle in your hand controls the drive motor's speed and direction of rotation. There is no change in the

"feel" of the throttle as it assumes its new duty. Also, you can not move an engine on a table that is rotating or rotate the table under a moving engine. I find this idiot proofing very comforting. Aligning the rails requires a steady and

skilled hand on the throttle. Often you need to adjust table rotation speed and juggle between CW and CCW. However, the juggle is an added “fun” advantage. Only qualified "Throttle Jockeys" can get their iron horse out of the house.

Powering my stick on a bolt was a long delayed project. The fun factor of the layout has expanded and I learned quite a bit of practical stuff along the way. Learning is a big part of this hobby. There are new doors to open as we look into the future. Yes, even we ancient ones, who forget where we put the glue, can smile as we add to our store of knowledge.

Bill Williams The Ancient One

An ancient one who is a great grandfather expects to field tough questions like, "What do you mean when you say 'Think Small'?" My answers can take many trails.

Do you like numbers? We have 22.2, 64, 100 and 220 in addition to the more popular 48, 87 and 160. A good friend modeled in 5/12 scale - 15 inch gauge live steam. We model railroaders shrink the real world with assorted ratios but with a common goal. We hope to capture some of the emotion we have or had when railfanning the 12"=l' prototype.

The narrow gaugers are a small thinking splinter group. Models of the real trains that ran on rails just 24,30,36 or 39.37 inches apart have advantages. A SMALL prototype with short trains makes the available space seem bigger. Perhaps it is just an addiction. We narrow gaugers are fond of our little trains. We THINK SMALL.

Whether we fancy multiple SD 90 MACs with a 100 car train or an 0-4-0T with three cars, all of us can THINK SMALL. Many little things will improve our modules or layouts. This hobby blossomed during the 1930’s depression. The post-war years of young families with big mortgages and tight budgets saw explosive growth of our hobby. Today's "financial adjustments” will not smash your hobby if you THINK SMALL.

Do you have a yard track close to a wall or back board ? A smidgen of space can have great value.

Back walls of buildings and scenic backgrounds can expand the apparent size of your module or layout. We THINK SMALL folks look for ways to minimize work and expense. A fence is much simpler and cheaper than a building. Be lazy and frugal. Use an occasional fence between buildings.

Do you have fences ? In the real world fences are everywhere. The school yard is fenced, also the graveyard. I bet your back yard has a fence. Real railroads define their right of way with fences. Now look at layouts and modules. In the scale world opportunities for fence contractors abound. Model railroaders have ignored much of the need for fencing in their scale empires.

Older or seedy industrial areas common along the tracks usually have plain board fences most often built with six foot boards ten or twelve inches wide. The posts and rails are on the property owner's side. We see just the boards when looking from the cab of our locomotive. There is no need to model the clutter hidden behind the fence. We have compressed that part of our miniature world to zilch !

How do you make a plain board fence? You are the boss. You can draw a section of fence to scale and in color. You can make color prints of real fences. Then cut to fit and paste them on your backdrop. Plain black on white prints can be stained or painted to provide cutouts for the backdrop. You can make lots of fence quickly or find buckets of hobby time as a fence builder.

We all know about making styrene look like weathered wood. If you want to expand your hobby time with this project, a single piece of plain styrene and a number eleven blade will keep you amused for several sessions. Fun time is the name of the game. Yet another option is to be a realist. You can use real wood Either scribed wood or strip wood from the hobby shop can yield a most realistic wood fence. As is often said, "Accept no substitute. Demand the real thing !" Remember, you are the boss.

There are many other types and uses for fences along our model tracks. We can visit that on another day. I have a question for you. Are we fencing good people out of our hobby? Our membership is shrinking. New faces are scarce at our meetings. These tense times may offer opportunities to increase the ranks of model rails. This is a family hobby that need not be costly. Like it or not, you are an ambassador for the hobby. Do not fence out a possible future model rail. Tout the performance of Kato's and Stewart mechanisms verses Athearn with your buddies at the club. Your budget busting outlay for DCC control stuff is best saved for discussion with us old hands. That kid down the street with a Christmas train set has spent the holiday money from grandpa. Your fellow worker having problems with a balky locomotive may be wondering how to make the next mortgage payment.

Your addiction to trains is known. When a tentative question is asked, always try for the best and most helpful SMALL and LOW COST answer. A small portion of your time may reap big rewards. If asked, check the beginners track. Fix the misaligned or loose rail joiners. Use your tweezers to remove the lint from turnouts and wraps around axles. Check for loose wires. Then, demonstrate your favorite ways to clean track and wheels. If the beginner is shy, and track gauges match, an invitation to run his or her locomotive on your rails is the way to go. ( I have cars with horn books on one end and KD s on the other.) Start the visit with "show and tell". Clean the wheels of their locomotive and a portion of your rails. This insurance investment for better operation reduces the need to explain poor running on your track. Hand the neophyte a throttle and let the train work its magic. You can help with hooking up a few cars and aligning the turnouts..

Sharing our hobby expands the fun. Our fences should have gates. As ambassadors we must remember to oil the hinges.

Until next time, THINK SMALL and share the fun.

Bill Williams The Ancient One

From the April 2002 CALLBOARD  Part 29

Last time the solid board fence, common to older industrial areas, introduced my sermon. Yes, we do need to offer aid to model railroad neophytes. This time we will stick to modeling - easy and fun modeling.

Rural area board fences are simple and relaxing to model. Old time farmers made more fence with less wood than the city slickers used to span the same distance. The rural product also has more structural character than the city slum fence. (A plus for us to think about.)

Your plastic cows and horses will not stray if you fence the pasture with a simple two-board fence. More prosperous farmers might build fences with three, four or more boards stretching between the posts but we THINK SMALL. 4X4 posts with a couple of lx6 or lx8 boards per span are all you need. Posts were commonly spaced 10 to 12 feet apart. Bossy might bend and break a board if farmer Jones spaced his post holes far apart for less sweat. Ah! there are reasons for hard work. We modelers, using an electric drill to dig post holes, can opt for an 8 to 10 foot post interval. Our cattle are well behaved but more posts will make the fence seem longer. We are always seeking ways to make our SMALL worlds look larger.

I like styrene for building rural board fences. The material is economical, easy to work and comes repainted to match whitewash.

In 1:87 scale 0.046" = 4". With a paper shear you can cut a lot of fence post stock from a small piece of 0.040 or 0.050 styrene. Some 0.010 or 0.015 styrene sheet, placed under the paper shear's blade or even cut with sturdy scissors, yields board for your fence. Keep the width of board consistent and your fence will look good. Any width from six to twelve inches will do the job. The key is to avoid assorted board width. Exact conformance to scale dimensions is not required when modeling scenery. Remember scenery's great blessing: if it looks ok you have met the goal.

If time is critical and you want minimum fuss; the hobby shop has styrene stock in fence post and board sizes packaged for your convenience.

Does a weathered wood fence fit your dream? You are not cheating if you use the real stuff to get an authentic look for your scale world. In the larger scales the right size stripwood is available in handy packs. HO fence posts are no problem. 1/16 inch square scales out as 5 1/2 inch stock for the HO world. One inch fence boards reduced to 1:87 scale are only 0.011 inches thick. Oh woe ! our suppliers have nothing to fill out need.

Do not weep. Thanks to another group of creative folks our need can be filled. The technique of Marquetry (decorative inlay work and even pictures crafted from assorted wood veneers) is a thriving hobby. Wood veneer 1/64” thick is available. A wide variety of wood veneers are offered. Watch the price. You want straight grain, not exotic color or pattern. Careful cutting with a sharp blade will yield neat boards for your HO fence.

Two inch HO stripwood is available at the hobby shop. Even 1/32” (about 2.7" HO scale) might look fine if your fence is not at the very front of your module. Just do not give the nit pickers a top view.

Weather your scale fence post and board stock in advance; then cut the wood to size. Yellow wood glue and tiny clamps ( I use spring hair clips) will do the job as you build your fence..

Rural board fences are basic and simple structures. However, there are certain customs we should not ignore. For instance, animals lean against fence boards. Always nail the boards to the pasture side of the post. If the board is on the outside of the post, Bossy soon works the nails loose as she reaches for the greener grass on the other side. When the boards could span three posts, joints were usually staggered as in Figure B. Your fence boards should be just one or two spans long. Boards 24 feet long were common in the west but 30 feet would be rare and expensive.

Posts at gateways and corners often rated a diagonal brace. (See Figure A.) Sometimes these key posts were a bit stouter but same size was probably the norm. These diagonal braces should extend from near the ground to the top of the post needing help. For gates the same logic usually applies. The brace board pushes upward from near the bottom hinge to the top outside corner of the gate. Yep, there is more to fence building than just the blasted back breaking post holes.

If we brace with boards, the corner post detail gets a bit complex. See Figure C. We simple folk solve that problem by bracing the corner post with fence posts instead of boards. The span between posts is reduced at the corner to accommodate the length of timber used for a diagonal brace. A good surface is made available for nailing the critical top board at the inside corner. The bottom board makes do with toe nailing and midspan support from the brace. Yes, the span at a corner is often shorter than normal.

These fussy details make your fence more interesting to build and a better model. Also, you can enjoy explaining fence building to your grandchildren if you are so blessed. As modelers we have all the advantages. We dig post holes with an electric drill and lift the posts with tweezers. Fence posts have no slivers. We never mash our thumbs with a hammer since we weld or glue our boards to the posts. Nails are for 12" = 1 foot folks.

Have fun. Keep your plastic livestock in the pasture. Rounding up strays is hard work.

Now where did I put the glue ???

Bill Williams The Ancient One